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1994
Interview

David Kerr gave this interview to Christian
Bouchet from the French journal, Nouvelle Resistance, in September
1994, six weeks after the Provisional IRA called their ‘cessation of military
operations’ and a month before the Combined Loyalist Military Command
ceasefire came into effect. It was published before Mr Kerr and former members
of smaller pro-independence groups joined the Ulster Independence Movement in
1995. Some of Mr Kerr’s more pessimistic concerns have not yet happened, and
– we hope – will never happen. We are republishing this interview unchanged
because we believe that it is an interesting milestone in the development of the
Ulster-nationalist movement.

The Ulster Independence Movement is now defunct
as a political party. Ulster Nation is now the journal of radical
Ulster-nationalism. Editorially, it supports Ulster Third Way, an
organisation that registered as a political party in February 2001. Ulster Third
Way contested the West Belfast parliamentary seat in the 2001 general election
and hopes to field three candidates in the May 2003 Assembly elections.

What is Ulster Nation?

Ulster Nation is a radical Ulster nationalist organisation,
which evolved from the old Ulster National Front. It is linked to the Third Way
movement in Great Britain. We seek to promote and encourage the reawakening of
Ulster's distinct national identity. Traditionally, most Ulsterfolk believed
that the Union with Great Britain was a safeguard for their freedom, heritage,
culture and way of life. Fewer believe this now.

How long have people been arguing for Ulster
independence?

As long ago as 1946 W F McCoy, a former cabinet minister in
the unionist government, advocated this option. He wanted Northern Ireland to
become the Dominion of Ulster with a political system similar to New Zealand,
Australia or South Africa, or indeed the Irish Free State prior to 1937. Some
members of the Ulster Vanguard movement in the early 1970s published similar
arguments, most notably Professor Kennedy Lindsay. He later founded the British
Ulster Dominion Party but it faded into obscurity around 1979. Glenn Barr, a
Vanguard Assemblyman and a UDA leader described himself in 1973 as ‘an Ulster
nationalist’. The successful strike in 1974, (which was directed by Barr), was
later described by the British minister Merlyn Rees as an ‘outbreak of Ulster
nationalism’. Firm proposals for an independent Ulster were produced in 1976
by the Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee and in 1977 by the UDA's
New Ulster Political Research Group. The NUPRG document, Beyond the
Religious Divide has been recently republished with a new introduction.
In the 70's and 80's there were a number of small groups who met and discussed
issues of cultural and national identity. This led to the publication of such
books as The Identity of Ulster and Ulster the Hidden
History, which have captured the imagination of many Ulsterfolk.

The Hillsborough Pact, which was signed in 1985 by the
Westminster and Leinster House regimes, made some former unionists realise that
the Union with Great Britain was effectively dead. They had formerly believed
that the British government would protect them against the campaign of
attrition, which had been waged against them by the IRA and INLA. They came to

realise that the British could not be relied upon and that
only Ulsterfolk would have the will to protect their own country. Groups such as
the Ulster Independence Committee, the Ulster Movement for
Self-Determination and the Ulster National Front began to grow in
size and political influence.

The MSD now seems to have closed down. The UIC, now called the
Ulster Independence Movement, is a bourgeois nationalist organisation similar to
the French Front National. Ulster Nation represents the
radical Ulster nationalist cause.

What is your view of unionism and loyalism?

I have been brought up in the unionist/loyalist tradition. My
father is an Orangeman. My late mother was a member of the Unionist Party for
many years. However, unionism is dead as a political philosophy. It is not
possible to maintain a Union with another party when that party is unwilling to
do anything to actively maintain and promote that Union. Most unionists have yet
to come to terms with this dilemma. Loyalism, which is more militant, is
slightly more coherent, but its loyalty is to symbols - the Crown, the
Protestant religion - which are no longer as potent as they once were. It is for
this reason that Ulster-nationalism has emerged from within the ranks of former
loyalists and unionists. Nationalism is about a people cherishing and
maintaining the things that they have in common and over which they can exercise
control. It does not look to others for salvation and protection as has been
traditionally the case with unionism and loyalism.

What is your view of Irish republicanism?

Irish republicanism is another political philosophy that has
had its day. Traditional republicans refuse to accept the institutions of the
Anglo-Irish Treaty, which set up both Irish states in 1921. However, the
southern state has the confidence of over 98% of its citizens. Even Provisional
Sinn Féin has now recognised the state and participates in elections and has
pledged to take seats in Leinster House if any of its candidates are elected.
Only the few elderly diehards of Republican Sinn Féin espouse traditional
republicanism. In Ulster the Provisional republican movement knows that the
overwhelming majority of people do not want to live in an all-Ireland state. The
IRA has sought to thwart this by a campaign of murder and destruction over the
past twenty-five years. Their political wing has not sought to gain support for
their aims amongst the population as a whole but only to maximise support within
the Catholic population. They cannot achieve their aims by persuasion so they
have tried coercion. The main victims of their campaign over the years have not
been ‘British imperialism’ but Ulster Protestants. Currently they are
involved in an Irish Pan-Nationalist Front with the SDLP, the Dublin government
and some members of the Catholic hierarchy to get the British government to
coerce so-called ‘consent' to some form of Irish unity. The present ceasefire
is a tactical move in their campaign to achieve their sectarian pan-nationalist
objectives.

What was the significance of the British and
Irish Communist Organisation in the development of political thinking in Ulster?

Very significant. BICO published a large number of pamphlets
and magazines, which argued that there is not ‘one historic Irish nation'
cruelly rent asunder by Britain's partition of Ireland but two Irish nations.
Partition was not the cause of this division but its effect. This explanation
enraged commentators, the leftist-liberal media and especially the orthodox left
and the ultra leftist sects. It gave a coherent political explanation for the
national conflict in Ireland. It was not as the republicans claimed the historic
Irish nation against British imperialism but a conflict between two nations on
the island. BICO's pamphlets have been very influential amongst former unionists
and for a time some elements in loyalist paramilitary circles. Some commentators
have suggested that Glenn Barr was influenced by BICO although he was never a
member. It has certainly been a big influence on me. BICO has been succeeded
today by the Ingram Society and Athol Books, which continues to promote its
interpretation of Ulster history and politics.

Is an independent Ulster a first step in the
direction of a federalist Ireland?

An independent Ulster would want to be a good neighbour. We
would like to have trade and co-operation with Eire. Any cross-border bodies
would be on the basis of equality of status for each government. There is no
point in winning political independence only to hand it over again to some
higher federal structure. I could see both governments co-operating as equals in
some future European confederal structure.

Are you optimistic of success?

Frankly, no! I believe that the current manoeuvres of the
British, Irish and American governments are designed to trundle Ulster into an
All-Ireland state. I fear massive reaction from loyalist paramilitary groups
will lead to a fierce civil war in which many thousands of lives will be lost.
Only an independent Ulster with autonomy for distinct communities can prevent
this outcome. The present ceasefire is not in my view the beginning of lasting
peace but the prelude to an intensification of the war for Ulster's survival. I
hope I'm wrong on this and that common sense will prevail. Time will tell.
However, in the meantime Ulster Nation's work of political
education and activity continues. Even if an All-Ireland State does come into
being there will still be an Ulster independence movement.